TALIBAN

A member of the Taliban's religious police beating a woman in Kabul on August 26, 2001; photograph taken from footage filmed by the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) [1]. The footage can be seen here.

The Taliban were widely criticized by Western countries for their oppression of women. Women were strictly limited in their ability to work in public places. However, they were allowed to set up their own businesses from their houses, if they had the means to do so. They were also permitted to work in certain medical positions, but they could only treat female patients. Women with children were not permitted to do any work. The Taliban believed women should stay home in order that their children did not have to grow up in the care of another, and also believed that work is the duty of the male in the house and to reject this duty was haraam. Taliban did pay about 30,000 women the same amount of money they used to earn by some haram job or business and forced them to discontinue the job/business and stay home.

The Taliban religion minister, Al-Haj Maulwi Qalamuddin, told the New York Times that "To a country on fire, the world wants to give a match. Why is there such concern about women? Bread costs too much. There is no work. Even boys are not going to school. And yet all I hear about are women. Where was the world when men here were violating any woman they wanted?"

While in power the Taliban claimed that the education of girls in rural Afghanistan was increasing, a UNESCO report said that there was "a whopping 65% drop in their enrollment. In schools run by the Directorate of Education, only 1 per cent of the pupils are girls. The percentage of female teachers, too, has slid from 59.2 percent in 1990 to 13.5 percent in 1999."^{[citation needed]}

Supporters of the Taliban suggested that the depression and the other problems plaguing Afghan women were the result of dire poverty, years of war, the bad economy, and the fact that many were left war widows, and could no longer provide food for their families without some sort of international aid.^{[citation needed]}

Women were also obliged to wear the burqa when appearing in public, and failure to do so could attract a public beating [3] (video). The Taliban stated that women were obliged to wear the burqa due to Islamic teachings which state that women must cover up her body in front of non-mahram men, and that both men and women should dress modestly. Some feminists saw the repression under the Taliban as a form of misogyny and gender apartheid.[4]

Children

Girls

Most young girls were required to cover most of their bodies, but were normally not required to cover their entire body. The clothing they had to wear still allowed for more movement, and was more revealing, than the adult women's clothing. However, they could still be beaten for appearing in public without a male escort. They couldn't go to school. They were, however, able to go out for water alone.

Boys

Boys had more freedom than girls. They were allowed to go outside alone, go to school, and have a job. They were also counted as escorts for women and girls of any age. However, they still weren't allowed to use kites or any other children's toys. Some girls dressed as boys so that they could provide for their family if their father had died or been sent to prison.

Religious Minorities

On June 19, 2001, the Taliban instituted a policy of requiring all Hindus living in their territories to wear distinguishing labels on their clothing to mark them as non-Muslims. The Taliban stated that this was done to keep them from being targeted by religious police enforcing Islamic law, but opponents claimed that this might have the opposite effect. Hundreds marched in Bhopal, India, in a demonstration against this law. [5]

Buddhas of Bamiyan

Main article: Buddhas of Bamiyan

In March 2001, the Taliban ordered the demolition of two statues of Buddha carved into cliffsides at Bamiyan, one 38 metres tall and about 1800 years old, the other 53 metres tall and about 1500 years old. The act was condemned by UNESCO and many countries around the world.

The intentions of the destruction remain unclear. Mullah Omar initially supported the preservation of Afghanistan's heritage, and Japan offered to pay for the preservation of the statues. ^{[citation needed]} However, after a few years, a decree was issued claiming all idols must be destroyed as per Islamic law that prohibits any form of idol worship as shirk (i.e., a sin).

Locals claim that Pakistani and Saudi engineers were onsite as volunteers to help with the statues' destruction, and that Afghanistan's treasures were ferried across the border to be plundered by private collectors. The government of Pakistan (itself host to one of the richest and most antiquated collections of Buddhist art) implored the Taliban to spare the statues. Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates later denounced the act as savage. The destruction of these priceless historical monuments made the Taliban look barbarous in the eyes of many in both the West and the East.

During a visit to the US in March, 2000, Syed Rahmatullah Hashemi, a senior representative (at the age of 24 however) of the Taliban designated as the roving Ambassador, projected the Taliban's action not as an act of irrationality, but as an act of rage over the refusal of the UNESCO and some Western Governments to permit the Taliban to use for drought relief the funds sanctioned by them for repairing the war-damaged statues of the Buddha.

Relationship with Osama bin Laden

In 1996, Saudi Islamic dissident Osama bin Laden moved to Afghanistan upon the invitation of the Northern Alliance leader Abdur Rabb ur Rasool Sayyaf. When the Taliban came to power, bin Laden was able to forge an alliance between the Taliban and his Al-Qaeda organization. It is understood that al-Qaeda-trained fighters known as the 055 Brigade were integrated with the Taliban army between 1997 and 2001. The Taliban and bin Laden had very close connections, which were formalized by a marriage of one of bin Laden's sons to Omar's daughter. During Osama Bin Laden's stay in Afghanistan, he had helped finance the taliban [6].

After the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Africa, Osama Bin Laden and several Al Qaeda members were indicted in U.S. criminal court [7]. The Taliban protected Osama bin laden from extradition requests by the U.S. variably claiming that Bin Laden had "gone missing" in Afghanistan [8] or that Washington “cannot provide any evidence or any proof” that bin Laden is involved in terrorist activities and that “Without any evidence, bin Laden is a man without sin... he is a free man” [9]. Evidence against Bin Laden included courtroom testimony and satellite phone records [10][11].

The Taliban continued to harbor Bin Laden after the September 11, 2001 attacks, protesting his innocence [12]. In 2004 before the US elections Bin Laden took personal responsibility for ordering the attacks on New York and Washington in a videotape broadcast on Al Jazeera.

NATO invasion and displacement of Taliban

Main article: 2001 war in Afghanistan

On September 20, 2001 after the largest criminal investigation in U.S. History the U.S. concluded that Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden were behind the September 11, 2001 attacks. The decision however remains extremely controversial. The U.S. made a five point ultimatum to the Taliban:

1. deliver to the US all of the leaders of Al Qaeda;
2. Release all imprisoned foreign nationals;
3. Close immediately every terrorist training camp;
4. Hand over every terrorist and their supporters to appropriate authorities;
5. Give the United States full access to terrorist training camps for inspection [13].

The Taliban rejected this ultimatum on September 21, 2001, stating there was no evidence in their possession linking Bin Laden to the September 11 attacks [14].

On September 22, 2001, the United Arab Emirates and later Saudi Arabia withdrew their recognition of the Taliban as the legal government of Afghanistan, leaving neighboring Pakistan as the only remaining country with diplomatic ties. On October 4, 2001, it is believed that the Taliban covertly offered to turn Bin Laden over to Pakistan for trial in an international tribunal that operated according to Islamic shar'ia law [15]. Pakistan is believed to have rejected the offer. On October 7, 2001, before the onset of military operations, the Taliban made an open offer to try Bin Laden in Afghanistan in an Islamic court[16]. This counteroffer was immediately rejected by the U.S. as insufficient.

Shortly afterward, on October 7, 2001, the United States, aided by the United Kingdom and supported by a coalition of other countries including the NATO alliance, initiated military actions, code named Operation Enduring Freedom, and bombed Taliban and Al Qaeda related camps[17][18]. The stated intent of military operations was to remove the Taliban from power because of the Taliban's refusal to hand over Osama bin Laden for his involvement in the September 11 attacks, and disrupt the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base of operations[19]. On October 14 the Taliban openly counteroffered to hand Bin Laden over to a third country for trial, but only if the Taliban were given evidence of Bin Ladens involvement in 9/11[20]. The U.S. rejected this offer as well and continued with military operations.

Hostilities against the Taliban continued according to NATO plans. The ground war was mainly fought by the Northern Alliance, the remaining elements of the anti-Taliban forces which the Taliban had routed over the previous years but had never been able to entirely destroy. Mazar-i-Sharif fell to U.S.-Northern Alliance forces on November 9, leading to a cascade of provinces falling with minimal resistance, and many local forces switching loyalties from the Taliban to the Northern Alliance. On the night of November 12, the Taliban retreated south in an orderly fashion from Kabul. This was sufficiently orderly, that on November 15, they released eight Western aid workers after three months in captivity (see Attacks on humanitarian workers). By November 13 the Taliban had withdrawn from both Kabul and Jalalabad. Finally, in early December, the Taliban gave up their last city stronghold of Kandehar and retired to the hilly wilderness along the Afghanistan - Pakistan border, where they remain today as a guerilla warfare operation, drawing new recruits and developing plans for a restoration of power.

Resurgence of Taliban

Main article: Taliban insurgency

Most of these post-invasion Taliban fighters are new recruits, drawn again from that region's madrassahs (madrassah means "school" in Arabic). The more traditional Qur'anic schools are claimed by the U.S. to be the primary source of the new fighters.

The insurgency, in the form of a Taliban guerrilla war, continues. However, the Pashtun tribal group, with over 40 million members, has a long history of resistance to occupation forces in the region so the Taliban themselves may comprise only a part of the insurgency.

By June 2006, the unrest was sufficiently notable that Afghan President Hamid Karzai, had taken the extraordinary measure of publicly criticizing the methods of western powers who worked to place him in power: "And for two years I have systematically, consistently and on a daily basis warned the international community of what was developing in Afghanistan and of the need for a change of approach in this regard." He added, “The international community [must] reassess the manner in which this war against terror is conducted”

Before the summer 2006 offensive began indications existed that NATO peacekeepers in Afghanistan had lost influence and power to other groups, including potentially the Taliban. The most noted of this is the riots in May after a street accident in the city of Kabul.

Though it is very hard to gain any visibility about what is happening in Afghanistan it is possible to deduce a number of reasonable possibilities given general knowledge of the situation. The continued support from tribes and other in Pakistan, the drug trade and the small number of NATO forces combined with the long history of resistance and isolation all combine to the conclusion that if not gaining power, Taliban forces and leaders are likely surviving and will play a significant role in Afghanistan in to the future.

A troubling turn of events is the introduction of suicide and terrorist methods in the war not used in 2001. This points to a possible expansion of foreign Jihadist influence in the war and the growth of a global movement able to deploy hundreds of suicide attackers in many different countries. Since survival of such movements depends of their ability to remain hidden from Western Intelligence it is impossible to form a good understanding of how one works while it still exists.

Russia designated the Taliban as a terrorist organization in July 2006. [21]

Previous Western links

The Taliban have had negotiations with U.S. and Argentinian petroleum companies. In 1997, a delegation from the Taliban went to Texas for talks about the construction of a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan across Afghanistan to Pakistan. The Taliban spent several days in Sugar Land, Texas, at UNOCAL's company headquarters. In spite of the civil war in Afghanistan at the time, both Unocal and Argentinian Bridas were in competition to construct the pipeline [22]. In 1998, the Taliban were in discussion with UNOCAL in the USA and with Bridas in Argentina in an attempt to agree the building of a gas pipeline across Afghanistan.[23]

References

1. ^ Afghanistan, Opium and the Taliban
2. ^ Victorious warlords set to open the opium floodgates

See also

• List of Taliban leaders
• Life under Taliban rule
• Politics of Afghanistan
• Taliban guerrilla war
• Golden Needle Sewing School
• Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan
• Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

External links

• Afghanistan: Taliban on the Rise Documentary
• The Role of U.S., Russia, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan in the Rise of Afghan Fundamentalism
• Brother, can you spare a tear for the Taliban by Kaleem Kawaja
• Endgame
• Taliban's point of view
• An obituary of King Fahd. Considers past and current financial supporters of mujahideen and the Taliban including the U.S. government, King Fahd and Osama bin Laden.
• Amir Butler: Understanding the reasons for Taliban defiance
• Interview with two foreign Taliban fighters. November 22, 2001.
• Afghani Roving Ambassador on NPR's Talk of the Nation March 21, 2001, about women's treatment, statue destruction and other "lies"
• Afghani Ambassador Speech at USC
• Who is responsible for the Taliban
• "Bush's Faustian Deal with the Taliban", by Robert Scheer, Los Angeles Times, May 22, 2001

Further reading

• Ridley, Yvonne (2001) In the hands of the Taliban - her extraordinary story ISBN 1-86105-495-5
• Coll, Steve (2005) Ghost wars: the secret history of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden ISBN 0-14-303466-9
• Griffin, Michael. (2003). Reaping the Whirlwind: Afghanistan, Al Q'aida and the Holy War. London: Pluto Press. ISBN 0-7453-1916-5
• Jones, Owen Bennett (2002). Pakistan: Eye of the Storm, 2nd Ed.. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-09760-3. Note pp. 9-11.
• Rashid, Ahmed (2000) Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia, ISBN 0-300-08902-3
• Matinuddun, Kamal (1999) Taliban Phenomenon: Afghanistan 1994-1997 ISBN 0-19-577903-7
• Skaine, Rosemarie (2002) The Women of Afghanistan Under the Taliban, McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-1090-6